So, in summary, a little bit of brand inheritance, a little bit of stereotyping and a lot of herd mentality and convenience.
In a way, that clumping of people reminds me of the danger of a homogenous system - viruses against humans, against a dominant operating system, etc. The more the masses pitch themselves as fitting a group (Yankees Fans, Democrat Voters, etc), the easier they are to reach and bend to one's will.
I think a lot about being a good citizen is overriding our instincts, and perhaps that's more of a challenge for "some people" (can I say "stupid people"?). e.g., I want that guy's car, but I won't steal it; I want to bang that chick whether she likes it or not, but I won't pressure her. Maybe it's time to consciously override an instinct to tag ourselves when it comes to teams in the field of politics?
Just wanted to say that I like your point about people wanting to be on the 'winning team'.
I also like the much-trotted out saying about politicians and underwear (was posted earlier) - put them through a wash cycle, a revolution, a big crunch/big bang, etc. Similar to the way that farmers and Aboriginals here regularly burn the land to allow for fresh growth.
In Australia, I have not quite lost faith to the extent that you have. I believe that there are a number of politicians who are fairly reliable (I have one as a client even) - though perhaps that is because they have limited power.
A big, usually decent hosting company in the US that I use was getting done over by this - I had 10-20 sites infiltrated over a period of a few weeks, in 2-3 waves using two slightly different techniques. The host denied any responsibility or knowledge, saying that poor FTP passwords were the entry point. My computer was not the issue as those sites hacked were all on this host - no sites on any of the other 5 or more hosts I use were impacted, regardless of the strength of their passwords.
Trivial passwords (single English word of five characters) were guessed as well as slightly more complicated ones (non-English words, eight characters, random numbers inserted).
It appeared to me that were the host NOT the problem, that bots might have been guessing the passwords through brute force? I searched the net seeing if I could find more information about these attacks, but there wasn't much out there, especially given that there wasn't much to search on besides the fact that they used an IFRAME or JavaScript DeCode function, and a probably random set of IP addresses.
How many people on either side of the main political line in the US simply argue points to favour their bias like they're barracking for sports teams? That's one of the perceptions I get, and something that can definitely be true here in Australia as well.
The same goes for console fanboys or ice cream flavours or cats vs dogs. And in politics more than almost anywhere else, it shouldn't be how things are thought of and done. Why is anyone a "card-carrying" anything? Why don't they assess each issue and position as it arises regardless of which party is presenting it?
Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM, losing the documents and misplacing the hardware. Until now. This summer, one man wages a solo war against confused and incompetent administration in schools. You'll laugh, you'll cry. You'll mostly cry.
Interesting. I had assumed that people quit the session *because* it stalled like that and hadn't realised it was shifting the game host completely because the original had fallen - very clever.
In summary then, "Stick with it, things will get better"?;)
A few of the wankers I've encountered to date (griefers) have been higher ranked players (15-20?) against guys like me (1-2).
Surely there are enough new-to-Live players from Australia who could fill a server with me? I'm routinely the one in a game with the worst lag (I assume the little green meter on the right of your name is the health of your connection?) and it makes it a real challenge. There can be a notable gap between me assassinating someone and them either falling, or getting away.
I think I'm also limited to Team Training and the unranked big battle types unless I purchase the latest map update, right?
This isn't H3 related, but just wanted to vent anyway. I got my 360 on Live for the first time recently and started playing some Halo 2 games. I am 90% confident that every single opponent on the network is a robot. Of course, most of you may have already come to a similar conclusion.
They all have the same whingey American accent. They all talk themselves up. They're all obsessed with making allegations of homosexuality, a split second before telling you to suck their dick or threatening to buggerise you (not their actual choice of words, mind you). (Seriously, it borders on obsession with gay acts - can't say I understand it. If I want to run around and gun people down, I'll play Halo; if I want to get my dick wet, I have a girlfriend.)
People quitting games is also annoying. Either you feel overwhelmed and check the scoreboard to see you're the only one left facing another eight minutes of trying to escape four guys from the other team, or you end up running around for 10 minutes without sighting an opponent until you realise it's 6 on 2 and your team gets so bored they turn on each other for fun.
Other than lag (being in Australia and getting put on US servers - are there even any AU servers?), you're right, the people are the problem. Guns don't kill a game, people kill a game.
This is exactly what I do - a text input with a bot-happy name like "subject" set to display:none; then abort anything with content in that field. Has cut down my spam significantly on a number of sites.
Won't last forever and isn't perfect, but you just have to make your site that little bit less bot-friendly than the others out there.
Funny thing is that I remember using a round mouse with some Unix workstation (X11?) years and years ago and realising instantly that it was a pain in the arse!
The UI looks great, don't get me wrong, but I think you're underestimating the value of tactile feedback. Never been annoyed shitless by a touchscreen kiosk because you didn't know if the click had registered? I've seen some microwaves that have the same issue. The power button on my Xbox 360 is similar - not always easy to tell whether the hit's been registered.
The music part of the iPhone looks excellent. Dialling and answering seems fine. Texting looks like it will be a bit annoying. And I couldn't see myself using the map search at all. Who searches for "seafood" on Google to choose a restaurant? I eat out very frequently here in Australia and always go to my favourites and highly-recommended places. I have never searched for a generic keyword to pick a restaurant. If anything, I search a name to find opening hours, phone number, etc and whenever I'm in that phase, I'm at or near a computer.
For me though, as someone who really needs to upgrade their phone, the issue is going to be who they choose to partner with in Australia. I really dislike Telstra and Three, but I have a feeling they'd choose one of those!
"The UI has had an awful lot of work put into it, I doubt it's going to be difficult to use."
Myxiplx, I'd like to introduce you to the iMac round "puck" mouse... proof that sometimes Apple do something just to be different even if it proves to be difficult to use. Remember the after-market that developed to return those mice to a traditional shape?
Did he stack it back on? Last time I saw a photo of him, he'd lost 32kgs, ditched the glasses and was looking about half of his original size. But don't let me get in the way of your little joke.
If you want protection from parallel imports/greymarket sales, then you should be forced to develop your products from scratch in the country in which you're expecting protection.
e.g., if you benefit from cheaper production in China, the customers should be able to expect cheaper sales via China/HK. If you want to kill off parallel imports in CountryX, then research, design and handle production for your product entirely in Country.
My partner's Motorola phone *makes a noise* when you're trying to switch the volume off. Annoying.
Say you're hiding under a bench in a conference room because Steve Ballmer is on the loose with a chair, and you want to switch your phone to silent in case someone rings you and alerts him - oh no, you don't...
Slashdot Mirror
Hey, BFF! Xbox and cats here too! JK.
So, in summary, a little bit of brand inheritance, a little bit of stereotyping and a lot of herd mentality and convenience.
In a way, that clumping of people reminds me of the danger of a homogenous system - viruses against humans, against a dominant operating system, etc. The more the masses pitch themselves as fitting a group (Yankees Fans, Democrat Voters, etc), the easier they are to reach and bend to one's will.
I think a lot about being a good citizen is overriding our instincts, and perhaps that's more of a challenge for "some people" (can I say "stupid people"?). e.g., I want that guy's car, but I won't steal it; I want to bang that chick whether she likes it or not, but I won't pressure her. Maybe it's time to consciously override an instinct to tag ourselves when it comes to teams in the field of politics?
Just wanted to say that I like your point about people wanting to be on the 'winning team'.
I also like the much-trotted out saying about politicians and underwear (was posted earlier) - put them through a wash cycle, a revolution, a big crunch/big bang, etc. Similar to the way that farmers and Aboriginals here regularly burn the land to allow for fresh growth.
In Australia, I have not quite lost faith to the extent that you have. I believe that there are a number of politicians who are fairly reliable (I have one as a client even) - though perhaps that is because they have limited power.
A big, usually decent hosting company in the US that I use was getting done over by this - I had 10-20 sites infiltrated over a period of a few weeks, in 2-3 waves using two slightly different techniques. The host denied any responsibility or knowledge, saying that poor FTP passwords were the entry point. My computer was not the issue as those sites hacked were all on this host - no sites on any of the other 5 or more hosts I use were impacted, regardless of the strength of their passwords.
Trivial passwords (single English word of five characters) were guessed as well as slightly more complicated ones (non-English words, eight characters, random numbers inserted).
It appeared to me that were the host NOT the problem, that bots might have been guessing the passwords through brute force? I searched the net seeing if I could find more information about these attacks, but there wasn't much out there, especially given that there wasn't much to search on besides the fact that they used an IFRAME or JavaScript DeCode function, and a probably random set of IP addresses.
Anyone know more about it all?
(Non-American here.)
How many people on either side of the main political line in the US simply argue points to favour their bias like they're barracking for sports teams? That's one of the perceptions I get, and something that can definitely be true here in Australia as well.
The same goes for console fanboys or ice cream flavours or cats vs dogs. And in politics more than almost anywhere else, it shouldn't be how things are thought of and done. Why is anyone a "card-carrying" anything? Why don't they assess each issue and position as it arises regardless of which party is presenting it?
Maybe that's just too much of an ideal scenario?
Depends which end.
Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM, losing the documents and misplacing the hardware. Until now. This summer, one man wages a solo war against confused and incompetent administration in schools. You'll laugh, you'll cry. You'll mostly cry.
URL failing. Account has been suspended by its host. Let's hope that's just as a result of high traffic and not some form of takedown threat.
Just did a happy wee!
I read that as "labia size". Certainly won't be many physicists needing to measure that.
Funny you should mention this - my girlfriend put her iPod Nano through a washing machine cycle just this morning, including the bud-style headphones.
Still seems to work.
I'm not sure if that says more about the strength of the Nano or the weakness of the washing machine. ;)
Jakob Nielsen, is that you?
Interesting. I had assumed that people quit the session *because* it stalled like that and hadn't realised it was shifting the game host completely because the original had fallen - very clever.
In summary then, "Stick with it, things will get better"? ;)
A few of the wankers I've encountered to date (griefers) have been higher ranked players (15-20?) against guys like me (1-2).
Surely there are enough new-to-Live players from Australia who could fill a server with me? I'm routinely the one in a game with the worst lag (I assume the little green meter on the right of your name is the health of your connection?) and it makes it a real challenge. There can be a notable gap between me assassinating someone and them either falling, or getting away.
I think I'm also limited to Team Training and the unranked big battle types unless I purchase the latest map update, right?
Why's that?
I'm not familiar with the architecture. Are all games user-hosted?
Any tips (from yourself or anyone else)?
I am new to Xbox Live but previously played Halo with friends so I am not entirely useless (just on maps/game-types I've not tried before).
This isn't H3 related, but just wanted to vent anyway. I got my 360 on Live for the first time recently and started playing some Halo 2 games. I am 90% confident that every single opponent on the network is a robot. Of course, most of you may have already come to a similar conclusion.
They all have the same whingey American accent. They all talk themselves up. They're all obsessed with making allegations of homosexuality, a split second before telling you to suck their dick or threatening to buggerise you (not their actual choice of words, mind you). (Seriously, it borders on obsession with gay acts - can't say I understand it. If I want to run around and gun people down, I'll play Halo; if I want to get my dick wet, I have a girlfriend.)
People quitting games is also annoying. Either you feel overwhelmed and check the scoreboard to see you're the only one left facing another eight minutes of trying to escape four guys from the other team, or you end up running around for 10 minutes without sighting an opponent until you realise it's 6 on 2 and your team gets so bored they turn on each other for fun.
Other than lag (being in Australia and getting put on US servers - are there even any AU servers?), you're right, the people are the problem. Guns don't kill a game, people kill a game.
Still, it's fun.
This is exactly what I do - a text input with a bot-happy name like "subject" set to display:none; then abort anything with content in that field. Has cut down my spam significantly on a number of sites.
Won't last forever and isn't perfect, but you just have to make your site that little bit less bot-friendly than the others out there.
Lego sex.
http://drew.corrupt.net/lp/series1.html
The video is of a presentation at TED:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129
I submitted this exact story about PhotoSynth and SeaDragon to Slashdot a few days ago and it was rejected. Boooo!
Funny thing is that I remember using a round mouse with some Unix workstation (X11?) years and years ago and realising instantly that it was a pain in the arse!
The UI looks great, don't get me wrong, but I think you're underestimating the value of tactile feedback. Never been annoyed shitless by a touchscreen kiosk because you didn't know if the click had registered? I've seen some microwaves that have the same issue. The power button on my Xbox 360 is similar - not always easy to tell whether the hit's been registered.
The music part of the iPhone looks excellent. Dialling and answering seems fine. Texting looks like it will be a bit annoying. And I couldn't see myself using the map search at all. Who searches for "seafood" on Google to choose a restaurant? I eat out very frequently here in Australia and always go to my favourites and highly-recommended places. I have never searched for a generic keyword to pick a restaurant. If anything, I search a name to find opening hours, phone number, etc and whenever I'm in that phase, I'm at or near a computer.
For me though, as someone who really needs to upgrade their phone, the issue is going to be who they choose to partner with in Australia. I really dislike Telstra and Three, but I have a feeling they'd choose one of those!
"The UI has had an awful lot of work put into it, I doubt it's going to be difficult to use."
Myxiplx, I'd like to introduce you to the iMac round "puck" mouse... proof that sometimes Apple do something just to be different even if it proves to be difficult to use. Remember the after-market that developed to return those mice to a traditional shape?
Did he stack it back on? Last time I saw a photo of him, he'd lost 32kgs, ditched the glasses and was looking about half of his original size. But don't let me get in the way of your little joke.
I'm sure this is flawed thinking, but oh well:
If you want protection from parallel imports/greymarket sales, then you should be forced to develop your products from scratch in the country in which you're expecting protection.
e.g., if you benefit from cheaper production in China, the customers should be able to expect cheaper sales via China/HK. If you want to kill off parallel imports in CountryX, then research, design and handle production for your product entirely in Country.
Shame that your point appears to have been dominated by confused follow-ups regarding specific figures.
I think badware is a far more dangerous and significant concern than spam.
Spam is a big issue for administrators, web developers, etc - probably not quite as annoying for other users.
My partner's Motorola phone *makes a noise* when you're trying to switch the volume off. Annoying.
Say you're hiding under a bench in a conference room because Steve Ballmer is on the loose with a chair, and you want to switch your phone to silent in case someone rings you and alerts him - oh no, you don't...
*beep*
*struck by chair*